Our Own Christmas Miracle

 

 

“Although each person of faith is tempted to treat her or his own version of faith as better than others and, perhaps, even the only valid version, the slightest engagement with other persons of faith even within just one’s own larger religious tradition reveals both areas of overlap and other areas of distinct difference.” – Vance Morgan

On Friday night, we went to the Parade of Lights in Pincher Creek.  We took our own vehicle. It was cold, the parade route was wrong, the parade was late so we left early.  It was about a half hour’s drive through the rolling hills to her community.  My daughter and granddaughter were following after us. 

When we got home, about an hour later, my daughter phoned in crisis.  They had hit a deer.  A big deer.  A vehicle came towards them with bright lights on and the moment they passed, a deer leapt and landed directly in front of them.

The phone went dead (she ran out of power and now had no phone).  The vehicle does not look that bad but, it is totalled. 

The airbags went off. The seatbelts retracted.  My granddaughter could not breathe from the gas and the seatbelt being too tight. My daughter could not release the seatbelt.   She ran to the other side of the vehicle to try to get my granddaughter out. 

My daughter told my granddaughter to take Asher (their new English Sheepdog puppy) down into the ditch away from any danger and tried to evaluate what they had just gone through.

The parade of cars heading home from the Parade of Lights (Hello, what are we celebrating here?) passed them by.  A man with a chihuahua stopped, asked if they were okay and drove away leaving them in the dark, with a non-running vehicle and no help.  Drove off! 

In the meantime, my granddaughter was in the ditch, she told me later, “Praying”, in shock, terrified.  The miracle then happened.  A retired policeman who lives kitty-corner to their yard, stopped, knew exactly what to do, helped call the RCMP (from his phone), made sure the vehicle was far enough off the road, and comforted my daughter.  He was so kind and gracious in his help.

My daughter called down to my granddaughter to bring Asher and come up and get in his vehicle.  The man turned to her, “Asher?  I know a dog named Asher”.  My daughter was already in shock but a new one added on.  “Who are you?”  “Your neighbor….”  I have just been to choir practice at the Baptist Church for Christmas choir.” 

My granddaughter told me, when she got home that, “even though I do not believe in God, because I am not Mormon, I prayed!”  I could taste my ire.  Who in that little community they call home had told her that she did not believe in God if she was not able to believe in God?  Who, in our own family, of my boys and their children who are Mormon, told her she did not believe in a God if she were not their religion?  I immediately grabbed to me and hugged her tight. and told her that, no one owns God and, of course, she believes that someone is owner of God and our beliefs.  How dare someone cause a child to feel so outcast?  How brave of heart of my heart to be courageous and brave enough to think past what she had told and turn to the greatest friend anyone can have…their perception of what, who, where, when, why of a Higher Power she believes in, beyond the divisiveness of religious cultures that want to own God.  It leaves such a sour taste in my mouth. 

We are very spiritual people.  We definitely believe in a High Power.  I believe and have taught my granddaughter that there is a Divine Mother, as well. 

We will have to do a great deal of talking to my granddaughter about n one owning God, or whatever name we call that Higher Power, those Higher Powers.  Anyone who tries to claim ownership, or tell anyone else, who might have different personal deep spiritual beliefs, that they cannot believe in God if they do not believe the same, is looking down on people so hard, they are missing Creator’s original idea of who he might be. 

This is our own Christmas Miracle.  A man who does not usually go to a church, stops, because my granddaughter, in her innocent, pure way, prayed in a ditch, holding on to her puppy. 

May you see miracles on your own lives, spiritual miracles, not attached to any religious fervor that you know exactly who he is/was/might be…and to whom.  May Creator, as I call my masculine Higher Power, and our Divine Mother, bless you always with your own sacred, personal, belief that Creator and the Divine Mother might answer your prayers no matter where you are or who you are, and mostly, who he or she might be to you.

©Carol Desjarlais 11.24.21